NEWS RELEASE                                   JANUARY 2010

Scrubber/Adsorber Market Back to $6 Billion This Year

The world market for scrubbers, biofilters, absorbers and adsorbers reached $6 billion in 2008 but dropped in 2009.  However, thanks to a strong resurgence in Asia, it will top $6 billion again this year.  This is the latest forecast in Scrubber/Adsorber/Biofilter World Markets an online continually updated report by the McIlvaine Company.

     2010 World Revenues ($ Millions)

Subject                       2010

Absorber                     2,824

Adsorber                     1,170

Biofilter                          491

Dry Scrubber                  457

Other                              233

Particulate                      942  

Absorbers will account for almost one half of the sales.  These are used to capture odorous gases in municipal waste treatment plants, acid gases from incinerators, chemical and mining operations, as well as applications in pulp and paper, refining and many other industries.  Absorbers used to capture power plant flue gases are not included in these totals but are in a separate report.

The second largest market is adsorption.  This is primarily with activated carbon and includes both solvent recovery as well as odor control.  Biofilters are used for odor control in municipal wastewater plants.  Dry scrubbers are used to capture HCl and other acid gases emitted by municipal waste combustion.  Venturi and other scrubber types are used to capture particulate in foundry sand systems, grain dryers and many other applications involving sticky dust.

Municipal wastewater and municipal waste combustion are the two biggest industry segments.  There are a number of new incinerators being built in China and other Asian countries.  Either dry or wet scrubbers are used with incinerators.  The metals industry in developing countries favors scrubbers over baghouses.  They are less costly and more rugged.  However, the efficiencies are lower.

There are nearly 1000 scrubber system vendors around the world.  This very fractured industry is divided both geographically and by industry.  There are relatively few suppliers of nozzles, packing, and mist eliminators used in the systems.  The typical scrubber system designer does not have his own manufacturing facility.  He subcontracts the design with a metal fabricator.

The supply of activated carbon for the adsorption applications is a big market of over $0.5 billion/yr.  This does not include the carbon used for mercury removal in power plants.  This power market is likely to be bigger than the other applications combined.

Scrubber system suppliers typically supply the wastewater treatment systems needed to purify any liquid discharged.  Most scrubbers operate with recycled scrubber liquor and a relatively small bleed to final treatment.

  Industry Totals

Industry                     2005    2006    2007    2008    2009    2010    2011    2012

Chemical                     633      667      694      722      715      735      759      786

Electronics                  195      230      234      262      240      244      249      254

Food                            161      168      177      185      193      200      209      218

Incinerators                 805      918    1052    1212    1231    1257    1291    1332

Metals                         681      698      716      734      687      712      739      767

Other Industries          759      794      834      873      853      873      894      916

Pulp & Paper               241      251      262      274      267      271      276      281

Surface Coating          539      564      592      620      589      607      638      671

Wastewater                 943      998    1056    1118    1159    1217    1278    1343
 

    Worldwide Totals:

                                                2005    2006    2007    2008    2009    2010    2011    2012

                                                4958    5289    5616    6000    5934    6118    6332    6567
 

For more information on Scrubber/Adsorber/Biofilter World Markets, click on: http://www.mcilvainecompany.com//brochures/air.html#n008